Any advice/suggestions on how to get a 6 month old to sleep through the night?

Question

Its for my sister and her baby who are both coming to stay with me as she is completely exhausted as her baby has only slept through once(which was when she was newborn).
Im hoping I can help get her established into a routine. She wakes between 2-5 times in the night and is fed twice.

I think the problem is that she doent like taking her milk in the daytime when solids are avalible but is happy to take it in the night.
Im gonna suggested putting most of her food in with her meals so she gets her allowence that way and hope it fills her up enough to sleep through eventually.
But apart from that Im stuck as my 2 kids are angels they are2.5yrs and 4mths and both sleep for 12hrs without waking.
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreiciated.

For those people that asked what I did to get my kids to sleep for so long is nothing really. If they wake I just used to put on some relaxing music I only gave them night feeds until they were 8 wks after that they just stopped waking, its nothing Ive done I must just be blessed with angels, no wonder I never have a problem getting babysitters!!

Answer 1

I would say you are very lucky that your 4mnth old sleeps that long most children at 6 months dont sleep more than 5 to 6 hours. I would suggest your sister try to play with the baby or otherwise occupy her for about an hour before one last feeding and a warm bath.... playing might tire her out and a soothing bath might work wonders.....I always had a better time with mine when he was fed within a half hour of bed time.

Answer 2

Firstly, do not give feeds during the night, just offer cooled boiled water. This worked with my children. They get the idea there's no point waking up for that! Is she on the right formula milk for her age? Limit day time naps, no naps after about 2 pm. When she wakes during the night don't put on any lights or talk loudly, or take her out of the bedroom. Just keep any fuss to a minimum. She'll soon get the idea that night time is sleeping time. Just make sure she has a good evening meal, if she wont take her milk in the day adding it in to her food is a good idea, for example, you could mash a banana with some rice or a weetabix and her usual milk. Good luck! I know being sleep deprived is no joke!!

Answer 3

Controlled crying is the only way i know of, however at 6mo a baby may still need a feed during the night. For some babies this behaviour can go on for another month or two. I've had 3 children & all woke 1-2 x during the night from 6-10 months & then just stopped. I wasn't able to find any solution that worked for me & wasn't prepared to do controlled crying in the middle of the night. Best of luck.

Answer 4

It may not be possible. Every baby is different and some don't react well to the kind of sleep training programmes that parents try to force them into. My two small kids are an example of this! To tell you the truth, we just to used to getting up at night... it finally ended when the second one was about 2 years old. The only constructive suggestion I have is to give a huge bottle of milk with cereal dissolved in it at bedtime. This may knock her out for longer.

Answer 5

Everyone's sleep patterns are different, and the same goes for your 6-month-old. Special circumstances such as sickness or sleeping in a strange bed at Grandma's could affect your baby's pattern; otherwise, her sleeping patterns are settling down.
The average 6-month-old sleeps about 11 hours each night and has settled into two naps of about one to two hours, usually in the morning and afternoon. Almost all healthy 6-month-olds can sleep through the night, with no need for midnight snacks or early-morning conversations unless you want to spend this time with your baby or are trying to keep up your milk supply.

Your baby is starting to get more opinionated, however. This is your last chance to decide where you want her to sleep without her becoming a vocal part of the decision-making process. Developing firm bedtime routines will help her get herself to sleep and stay asleep.

Tip: Here are a few good habits to help make bedtime easier:

• Put your baby to bed while she's still awake. This way she'll have practice falling asleep in her own bed. If she's fed or rocked to sound sleep, she'll expect the same service in the middle of the night.

• Give your baby a favorite soft toy or "lovey" to help her get to sleep. Although you'll want to keep your baby's crib free of lots of toys (and no large ones), one special blanket or stuffed animal is fine. It'll help her comfort herself to sleep.

Answer 6

We feed our baby a barley formula which is described in a booklet written by L. Ron Hubbard called 'Children'. I'm sure you can buy this booklet on e-bay. It takes some time to make the formula each day, however, it means our baby gets a fresh bottle of nutrition rather than the mass produced milk supplements distributed by the mainline food companies. He loves it and we've never had any problems with our baby sleeping.

Answer 7

What a wonderful, caring sister you are. You could try to get the baby to spend more time awake in the day time. I don't mean sleep deprivation, just encourage more play and awake time. When the baby wakes at night just see to her needs and put her back to bed, no playing or talking. You could try playing soft, relaxing music and keeping the lights low when she is up at night. My daughter used to wake up in the early morning, I would hear her singing and playing. She would wait patiently till I was ready to get up, about 7am. Try to make her confident that Mum is available if needed. Best of luck.

Answer 8

Argh, the memories, I am afraid my experience is similar to Alyosha's...we just got used to getting up thought the night. My daughter never slept through until she was 3 years old...she would wake 6 to 8 times a night (we were wrecks for awhile). My son took until about 4 years old, although by then of course he was old enough to come to us where he would be told to go back to bed without us having to get up.

We tried controlled crying, extra feeds, no feeds, more play time through day, music, no music, dummy, no dummy...everything basically until it was just easier to stop trying and just get used to it...it was actually less stressful this way to...but I'm not saying don't try things out, go for your life, just don't get all stressed about it, some kids are just the way they are and remember they do grow up it won't last forvever.

Answer 9

you mentioned the word routine and that is what it's all about try to get some bottle down he before she go's to bed and if she wakes dont speak to her ,she has to check she is dry and clean ,then give her a small drink at the bottom of the cot so she knows its there, then leave her she has probaly been to quiet around her, so now every thing wakes her , make sure she dont get a reaction from anyone when she wakes in the night somtimes this is a craving for the mothers voice,

Answer 10

My children are the same age as yours and they both sleep 10 hours a night. I had to start both mine off with a pacifier tho to get them to sleep thru the night because they were both comfort nursers and as soon as they started sleeping thru the night constantly i took the dummy off them. I also woke them for their last breast feed of the night at 9-10 o'clock and made sure they had a good feed and not fall asleep on the boob. Then i would just give them the dummy if they woke up.